Journal archives for June 2019

June 3, 2019

May 2019 Photo-observation of the Month

Congratulations to Charlotte Bill for winning the May 2019 Vermont Atlas of Life iNaturalist photo-observation of the month. With over 11,500 photo-observations submitted by over 700 observers in May, it was competitive! Charlotte wrote that "...it had just captured a small morsel and was in the process of trying to gulp it down. I think it was in the gulping process that the tongue came out!" Charlotte isn't just adding her observations to the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist, she's also been busy helping to identify and confirm other observers' contributions too. She has over 37,500 identifications and counting!

American Bittern breed in cattail and sedge wetlands where they are more often heard than seen. They have a habit of freezing in place with their neck stretched skyward and the brown striations camouflaging them among the vegetation. Their call is said to sound like an old "pump-handle" echoing across the wetland. Bitterns were found in 70% more survey blocks during the Second Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas compared to the first, prompting it to be removed from a Species of Special Concern list in 2010.

Visit the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist where you can vote for the winner this month by clicking the  ‘fav’ star on your favorite photo-observation. Make sure you get outdoors and record the biodiversity around you, then submit your discoveries and you could be a winner!

Posted on June 3, 2019 03:40 PM by kpmcfarland kpmcfarland | 0 comments | Leave a comment

June 4, 2019

Hike High, Watch Flowers

Bye bye mud season. June has arrived and with it so has the mountain hiking season! If you find yourself high in the alpine zones above treeline, even outside of Vermont, please consider joining the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK), Green Mountain Club (GMC), and Baxter State Park (BSP) in documenting flowering times of plants in Northeast alpine areas. Check out the Northeast Alpine Flower Watch project on iNaturalist at https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/northeast-alpine-flower-watch.

NE Alpine Flower Watch

By sharing photo-observations from your next hiking trip above treeline, you can contribute to ongoing phenology (timing of biological events) research. Your photos can become research-grade data that will help us discover, monitor and ultimately conserve these unique and treasured mountain ecosystems.

The target plant species for the Northeast Alpine Flower Watch are available in the project list. However, other alpine flora and fauna observations can also be submitted. Please become members of the project and opt to share your coordinates for obscured and private observations. This will protect rare species while allowing project researchers to access valuable data.

The more photos that are posted, the more we can capture the large variability that is inherent in mountain environments across space and time in the northeastern United States. This data will be merged with our ongoing plant phenology studies and used to discover long-term trends in mountain ecosystems.

For more information, check out the website at outdoors.org/FlowerWatch

Posted on June 4, 2019 07:54 PM by kpmcfarland kpmcfarland | 0 comments | Leave a comment

June 19, 2019

300,000 Observations and Counting!

When Sean Beckett swung his net at a dragonfly in Peacham Bog yesterday, he made history. His observation was the 300,000th for the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist, making this one of the largest biodiversity datasets ever gathered for the state. And Sean is joined by more than 5,000 other observers that have made this happen in just over six years.

Sean's dragonfly was an Hudsonian Whiteface, a lover of peatlands. It is often the first to take flight over bogs and fens, sometimes as early as April. Sean carefully took it from the net, photographed it, and released it. Shortly after he shared it, two of Vermont's dragonfly experts and partners on the Vermont Atlas of Life Dragonfly and Damselfly Atlas agreed with Sean's identification, making it a 'research grade' observation and usable for biodiversity conservation and science.

From moss to moose, fungi to falcons, together, we're compiling one of the largest biodiversity datasets ever assembled for Vermont. It now contains information on almost 5,000 verified species records, including information on phenology, habitats, and more.

How many species occur in Vermont? You’d think we’d know this for a small state steeped in a rich tradition of naturalists. But, the simple answer is, no one really knows. We do know how many species there are of some of the popular taxonomic groups like birds (currently 382) and mammals (58). But how many invertebrates are there in Vermont? A back-of-the-envelope estimate puts the number at just over 21,400 species! There are about 2,150 species of vascular plants, with approximately 1,400 native plants. Not including protists, bacteria or viruses, we humans share Vermont with at least 26,000 to 45,000 species.

Join our growing community of citizen naturalists from around the Green Mountain State in discovering and sharing observations of Vermont life. Your observations can be turned into research-grade, citizen science data that will help us discover, track and ultimately conserve our natural heritage.

Read the 2018 year in review for the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist and learn about all the amazing discoveries that were made.

Posted on June 19, 2019 05:44 PM by kpmcfarland kpmcfarland | 0 comments | Leave a comment

June 20, 2019

Mission Monarch Workshop

Did you know populations of Vermont’s state butterfly, the Monarch, have been declining dramatically over the last two decades? While conservation research has focused on this issue, there are still many unknowns in the ecology of this beautiful and tenacious species. Join us for this workshop, brought to you by the ​Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller ​National ​Historical​Park, Vermont Center for Ecostudies, and the Montreal Insectarium, and learn how you can get involved in documenting Monarch breeding this summer! ​It is easy and fun!​

The workshop will prepare you with everything you need to participate in the 2019 International Monarch Monitoring Blitz (see http://www.mission-monarch.org/mission-monarch-blitz/). From July 27th to August 4th, observers across the United States, Canada, and Mexico will be surveying milkweed plants in search of all life stages of Monarchs. Data will be collected by Mission Monarch and used to paint a better picture of Monarch populations.​ Let's put Vermont Monarchs on the map!​

André-Philippe Drapeau Picard from the Montreal Insectarium will lead a presentation on Monarch biology, their conservation status, and actions you can take to help them thrive. Then, head into the Park to survey milkweed plants and ​Monarchs.​ Data will be reported to Mission Monarch to contribute to the greater monitoring effort. You can then take your skills to your community and organize Monarch monitoring field trips during the International Monarch Monitoring Blitz​.​ All ages welcome!

Co-sponsored by Vermont Coverts and the Vermont Woodlands Association.

​Location: ​Forest Center, Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP, Woodstock VT. Parking is available in the Billings Farm & Museum overflow lot, located on Old River Road.
Date: Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Time: 5:00 ​- 8:00 PM​​
​Registration required: ​Call Ana Mejia at 802-457-3368 x222

Posted on June 20, 2019 03:27 PM by kpmcfarland kpmcfarland | 0 comments | Leave a comment

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